Chapter one new Tank and Stephanie Story
Two months earlier, Stephanie and Lula were inside Lula's beloved T-bird. "Hey, Lula, it looks like we are being followed."
"I see him too, white girl,'' Lula said. Stephanie noticed that Lula's hair was dyed bright red and wore her usual too-tight mini skirt, along with a too-tight tank top. Lula did not usually wear her seat belt, because it would be too tight, and she was more comfortable without it. On the other hand, Stephanie always wore her seat belt whenever Lula was driving.
Just then, the guy driving behind them started to hit the back of Lula's T- bird. "What the hell is that idiot doing?" Lula asked. Stephanie noticed him coming up next to them and started to slam his car into the side of the T- bird. Lula lost control of her vehicle. She careened off the road, and the rock blindsided them.
Stephanie shook her head and noticed that Lula was in bad shape. She found her cell phone and called Rangeman. "Hey, wifey, what is going on?" Lester asked.
"Lester, Lula's T-Bird was blindsided, and we were in an accident. I am okay, but Lula is in bad shape. Can you send help?" Stephanie asked.
"Right, help is on the way." Lester got Lula's coordinates and called Tank.
"Tank, we have an issue. Lula and Stephanie were in a bad accident. Stephanie says she is okay, but Lula is in bad shape," Lester told Tank.
"Right. Where are they?" Tank asked. Tank and Hal got the coordinates and met the fire and police at the accident scene. "Shit," Tank said. Hal and Tank approached Stephanie. "Little one, are you okay?" Tank asked.
He noticed that Stephanie was pale and shaking. "Hi, Tank. I am okay, but Lula is in rough shape. She is unconscious and lost a lot of blood," Stephanie said and then she started to cry. "We were blindsided. Somebody did this to us on purpose."
Tank looked at her and put his strong arms around her. "Okay, we are taking you to the hospital where you can get treatment, and we can find out what is going on with Lula," Tank told her. She nodded as he comforted her.
He let go of Stephanie when he saw a second ambulance waiting to take her. "Hal, I am going with Little one. Meet me at the emergency room," Tank said. Hal looked at Tank and nodded his head. Tank and Stephanie were both in the emergency room.
Once they were at the emergency room, Stephanie got put in a private room, and she waited to get examined by the doctor. While she was waiting, she saw Lula and the EMTs come in. Tank looked at her. "I will be right back. You don't go anywhere," Tank ordered.
"Right," Stephanie said. She knew Tank would have someone stop her from leaving if she tried.
"Doctor, I am Pierre Sherman, and I am the emergency contact for Lula Davidson," Pierre said.
"I see that," Doctor Samson said. "She is in bad shape, she lost a lot of blood, and as far as I can see, she is in a coma. We put her on life support to help, but all we can do is wait to see what happens," Doctor Samson said.
"You, Mr. Sherman, might have to make a big decision in the near future," Doctor Samson said.
Tank walked into the room where he saw Stephanie pacing. "Little one, Lula is in bad shape. She is in a coma and is also on life support. I might have to make a tough decision on whether to continue life support for Lula." Tank closed his eyes when Stephanie walked into his arms. He just held her until she stopped crying.
"The doctor cleared me to leave," Stephanie whispered.
"Okay, let's get some dinner and talk about what happened," Tank told her.
Tank opened the front passenger side door of a Rangeman SUV. Stephanie got in and buckled up. Tank got in the driver's side, and they stopped at a nice little restaurant.
The two of them got out of the Rangeman SUV and went into this restaurant. Stephanie walked in and saw a bar and some nice little private tables. The waitress approached them, asking if she could help. "Two, please," Tank told her.
"Right this way," the waitress said. She sat them at a table in the corner of the room. Tank took the chair against the wall to see what was happening in the restaurant.
Stephanie sat opposite him. "Tank, I don't know what to do about Lula. I think we are the only family we have," Stephanie said to him.
"First thing first, please, Stephanie, call me Pierre," he told her. Tank may not like his name, but he wanted Stephanie to use it.
"We are the only family she has, Little one. That is why she told me that I was her emergency contact. I say we give her a couple of months. If she does not wake up, then we should not let her suffer. It would be wrong if we did that, just hoping for her to wake up," Pierre told her gently. "The longer she's on life support and in a coma, it reduces her chance of a full recovery. Lula wouldn't want to be kept alive indefinitely."
"I know, but she has been one of my closest friends for a while now. She was there when I started to work at Vinny's Bond," Stephanie said with tears in her eyes. Pierre took her hand. The two of them instantly felt the spark.
The waitress approached to get their orders. Pierre ordered a grilled Chicken salad, and Stephanie duplicated his order. Where Pierre ordered water, Stephanie ordered a soda to wash down the food.
After they finished eating, Tank softly said, "Okay, Little One, I want you to stay with me. Ranger is gone right now. I know that Morelli got engaged to Barnhardt. I don't want you alone right now."
"I don't have a choice, do I, Pierre?" Stephanie asked.
"What do you think?" Stephanie sighed as she followed him back to the car. They got back into the SUV and drove into the underground lot of Rangeman. The two of them walked into the building. Tank stopped in the command room.
"I will be off-grid, do not call me," Tank told everyone. He took Stephanie to his apartment. Tank used his key and unlocked the door. Stephanie walked in, and Tank followed her inside.
Just then, Stephanie started to ball. Pierre walked up to her and wrapped her in his arms. "Shh. I am right here," Pierre told her softly.
She lifted her head and looked into his soft brown eyes. Pierre bent his head, and their lips locked. She wrapped her arms around his strong, thick neck.
He picked her up and carried her to his king-sized bed. Tank looked into her eyes and saw how they sparkled in the dim light of his bedroom. He got on top of her with an arm on each side of her. Stephanie started to take his clothes off. Pierre asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I want to wipe tonight away. Please, help me forget?" she begged him. He took off her clothes. The two looked at each other, naked. Pierre kissed her hard on the lips this time, and one thing led to another. Before she knew it, they were screaming each other's names. They knew what they felt was more than just a one-night stand. Stephanie and Tank knew they were meant to be together.
Two months later, Tank and Stephanie were in her apartment watching a movie when they heard ticking from her bedroom. "Oh boy, " she said.
"Run," Pierre said. The two of them got up from the couch with lightning speed and were out the apartment door. Stephanie and Pierre made it to the hallway as the explosion ripped through the apartment.
Pierre was instantly on top of her protecting her from the explosion. After a few minutes, the two looked at each other, and he released his grip on her. "Are you all right?" Pierre asked.
"Yeah, but what is going on?" Stephanie asked him.
"I don't know," Pierre told her. He got up from being on top of her. He held out his hand, and she took it. Just then, Stephanie's landlord came up to her apartment.
"That is it. I have had it with you every other month. It is always some type of damage to your apartment. I am sorry, Stephanie, but you need to clear out," he said. Then he added, there is an ambulance and fire department on their way." He turned to leave as Stephanie looked at the retreating back in shock.
Pierre still had his hand locked with Stephanie's hand as they exited the building. Once they were outside, they saw Joe standing with the police, ambulance and fire department. "Well, there is one good thing about my engagement to Joyce, I can stop eating antacids," Joe said, shaking his head.
Tank and Stephanie returned to the hospital. They looked at each other when the nurse placed them inside the same examination room. The hospital was so full that they had to share.
"Hey, Stephanie, are you okay?" Tank asked her after the doctor left the room. He talked too quietly for them to hear the prognosis regarding the other.
Stephanie was trying to see if Tank got injured. "Yeah, I just got some bumps and bruises. What about you?" Stephanie asked.
"A mild concussion and sprained right wrist." Tank looked at her as she leaned against the sterilized hospital room wall. He got off the bed and walked up to her. "You are something else," Tank said. He saw her soft face, and he could not resist. Tank gave her a soft, light kiss on the lips.
The two of them looked at each other when someone knocked on the door. "Come in," Stephanie said. She expected it to be the doctor, but she saw Lester coming into the hospital room.
"Are you guys all right?" Lester asked.
"Yeah, I just got some bruises and bumps, Lester. Tank has a mild concussion and sprained right wrist. We are okay," Stephanie told him.
"Good, I will let your moms know. They are in the waiting room," Lester said, and then he left the two of them. Lester walked to the waiting room, so Tank's mom Janice walked up to him.
"Is Pierre all right?" Janice asked. Then she noticed a white, little bit older lady approach Lester.
"What about Stephanie? Is she okay," Helen asked.
"You are Stephanie's mom? I have heard a lot of good things about her from my son Pierre," Janice asked, approaching Helen.
"Yes, I am, and I have heard a lot of good things about Pierre," Helen said to Janice.
I have an idea. While we wait for those two, how about we go to the cafeteria and get some coffee? I am buying," Janice asked Helen.
"I would love to," Helen said. Lester watched as Janice and Helen walked away.
"This is going to cause trouble," Lester said. He walked back into the ER department and saw Tank and Stephanie signing the discharge papers. "You two might have a problem. Your moms are having a cup of coffee together," Lester said to both of them.
Pierre and Stephanie looked at each other. "How much trouble can one cup of coffee be?" Pierre asked. He knew that this would cause a lot more trouble than he thought.
Meanwhile, the two ladies sat down in the cafeteria after grabbing their coffee. Helen said, "I have an idea. Why don't you, your husband and Pierre come to my house for Friday night dinner? I would love to see how those two get along outside of work."
"We would love to. I would like to see that too," Janice replied to her.
Just then, the two women heard Pierre say, "Momma, you did not have to come here."
"Hi, mom, I am fine. Really. You should go home to check on gram, please," Stephanie told her mom.
"Of course I did. Oh, and you might want to wear something nice on Friday night. Pierre, we got invited to have dinner with Helen and her family. I will call you and let you know what time. Can you do me one thing, Pierre, please, don't wear black?" Janice asked her son. Stephanie and Pierre looked at their moms as they left the cafeteria.
"Do you have other clothes that are not black?" Stephanie asked, giggling.
"You know I do," Pierre said. "Okay, this can lead to a whole lot of trouble," Pierre added. Pierre and Stephanie had one more thing to do, and they knew they could not put it off any longer. They both had to say goodbye to Lula.
The two of them walked into the Intensive Care Unit. "Hey Doc, is there any change to Lula at all?" Pierre asked the doctor as he was coming out of Lula's room.
"None. In fact, her immune system is starting to fail, and there is no chance for her to come out of this," the doctor told them gently.
"Thank you, doctor." Pierre turned to Stephanie and gently said, "Okay, let's go say goodbye to Lula." Stephanie and Pierre walked into Lula's room and saw her on life support. The two of them looked at her and saw their friend had finally lost some weight. They both gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, and Pierre signed the termination papers to end Lula's suffering.
The doctor signed the document, removed the tubes, and turned off the machines. All three of them watched as Lula flat line. The doctor called the time of death. Pierre put an arm around Stephanie's waist. Stephanie turned into his arms and sobbed into Pierre's chest.